By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

Senior middie Cody Cantrell and junior middie Nick Cox each scored four goals to lead Timberline to a 13-6 victory over Lake City in the Idaho boys lacrosse state championship game Saturday afternoon in Coeur d’Alene.

Sophomore attackman Nash Cantrell added three goals to help the Wolves (16-6) win their second straight state championship. Timberline also beat Lake City in the title game for the second straight year.

“This is a special team,” Timberline head coach Tom Blanchard said. “A lot of people thought after we graduated a lot of key members off last year’s team that we were going to be down. But these kids kept fighting all year long, and they proved why they were the defending state champions.”

This was expected to be a down year for Timberline after it graduated more than 200 points off its 2009 title-winning team. But the Wolves used more of a balanced offense this season to achieve the same result.

Senior middie Panos Panayiotou and sophomore attackman Brett Jones each finished with a goal and an assist, and sophomore attackman Andrew Rusin and junior middie Mason Klein both had one assist to round out the offense for Treasure Valley Lacrosse League champion Timberline.

Defensively, sophomore goalie Keven Brown saved eight shots.

In defeat, junior middie Jesse Hansen scored four goals, and senior attackman Adam Marfice had three points on two goals and an assist for North Idaho Lacrosse League champion Lake City (10-5), which lost in the state championship game for the third straight season.

A team from the North Idaho Lacrosse League has never won the Idaho state title.

And it wasn’t to be again Saturday, despite Lake City’s home region advantage. Timberline had to travel about seven hours north just to play the game, and the Wolves were greeted by chilly and wet conditions. But it made little difference.

Timberline got off to a strong start and took a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter before Lake City pulled a couple back to go into intermission trailing 5-3.

But Timberline scored back-to-back goals in the opening 75 seconds of the second half. Panayiotou’s goal with 10:45 to play in the third quarter gave the Wolves a 7-3 lead.

Lake City pulled back within 7-4, however, a goal by Cox with 26 seconds to play in the third quarter restored Timberline’s four-goal edge and sparked a critical three-goal run. By the time Nash Cantrell scored off a feed from Jones with 8:28 to play in regulation, Timberline led 10-4.

Nash Cantrell added his third of the day with 1:51 remaining to give Timberline its biggest lead, 13-5.

“We played with a lot of heart,” Blanchard said. “It was a long trip just to get to the game, and it was cold up there. It just goes to show what these kids are all about. When they focus their minds to something, they can achieve whatever they want.”